SF Bay Area, Part 5: San Francisco

 

9/28/26 San Francisco

Since I hadn’t sketched in San Francisco since 2015, I knew that anywhere I went would feel fresh to me. Over two days (an easy BART ride from Berkeley each day), Cathy showed me both familiar places and new ones.

Our first day in the city, our focus was on the Presidio and the Palace of Fine Arts, which I had remembered well from that previous visit. After making a page of small motifs, it was fun to get it stamped at the visitor’s center (top of post).

Under the Palace of Fine Arts' dome

Palace of Fine Arts

Cathy's first (and my second) Waymo ride!

After nearly 15,000 steps of being tourists, we ended the day at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where the lobby area displayed the spectacular installation “Giant Arc,” by Jacob Hashimoto. Suspended from the ceiling were 75,000 elements constructed by hand of paper and bamboo using kite-making techniques. In some areas, the suspensions hung nearly to the floor. Entering from the upper floor, the clouds of tiny “kites” appear white, then more and more colors and patterns appear as one descends the staircase to the lower level (see my Instagram for a video). Of course, attempting to draw it was futile (and being limited to pencil was frustrating), but we both tried anyway. What a visual sensation!

9/28/26 Jacob Hashimoto's "Giant Arc" at SF MOMA

Each of 75,000 pieces is built like a tiny kite

Salesforce Park was the main attraction of our second day in San Francisco. Four stories above a street level transit center, the park is a four-block-long oasis of multiple gardens where people can walk, run and play. We even rode the gondola for a (laughably) short ride back down to the street level. I loved all that soft, organic greenery against the backdrop of blue and gray glass and steel! If I lived or worked nearby, I would be walking that half-mile loop every day, sketching along the way.

9/30/26 Salesforce Park

Process notes: With all the touring we were doing (not to mention desperately getting to Magic Donuts five minutes before the bakery closed – whew! Tragedy barely averted), I got back to my rental and realized I hadn’t sketched as much as I had wanted to. I even had some empty spots on a sketchbook page that were just waiting to be filled. For the first time in maybe ever while traveling, I looked through my phone and made a couple of sketches from reference photos (the Bayfront Park sculpture and the 181 Fremont Building, below).

9/30/26 San Francisco

Yes, you read that right – Tina made some travel sketches from photos! Oh, I know you’re probably laughing; most people think nothing of mixing sketches from photos along with those made on location. But I’ve always been such a purist about urban sketching, especially during travel, that it felt strange to me. Still, while my preference is always to sketch on location, I see the benefit of being flexible. Would I rather go home frustrated that I didn’t sketch a particularly striking building? Or use a photo to help me preserve the memory almost as well as drawing from life? (See, the old dog continues to be capable of learning new tricks.)

Surprising landscaping at Salesforce Park

More than 600 types of trees and 16,000 plants...

...with a steel blue urban backdrop.

By the way, if you were observant, you already caught one other sketch I made in Berkeley from a photo because it was noted as such on the sketchbook page. (Just keeping myself honest, I guess. Go ahead and laugh.)

All in all, I had a fantastic time in the Bay Area. Although eight days wasn’t very long compared to many other trips I have taken, it was my longest time away from home since 2019 – and my longest ever solo. Planning this trip alone, navigating logistics alone, and sometimes being alone in unfamiliar places all made me miss Greg very much. We had always been such great travel partners. But I’ve missed a lot of years and places that I still want to visit. I want to get my travel legs back and gain confidence in traveling by myself – and farther. Many women do it happily and well; I’m ready to become one of them.

Have donut, will travel (this one from Third Culture in Berkeley)

SF Bay Area, Part 4: Berkeley

9/27/26 Berkeley (Although I didn't see much color in warmer San Jose, trees were on their way to turning in cooler Berkeley.)

For the second half of my trip, I moved to Berkeley to be near Cathy – friend, urban sketcher, and tour guide extraordinaire. This was not the first time Cathy had provided her touring services: Back in 2018 when Greg and I were on our way to Yosemite, we spent a fun day with Cathy in Alameda, which she had recommended as a scenic neighborhood to stay and sketch in. A Bay Area native and lifelong resident, she knows the region well, both its history and current attractions. (She also knows where the best pastries and ice cream in town are located!)

10/1/26 (This was technically my first InkTober sketch)

9/29/26 A tree I met on a golden-hour walk

Renting an apartment in her very walkable neighborhood, I had opportunities to sketch trees and architecture whichever way I looked. A short walk away was Solano Avenue, which is full of good restaurants, shops (including Payn’s Stationery, a shop with traditional stationery as well as some art supplies), bakeries, ice cream, coffee shops and, well, what else would you need? Whenever my next visit to Berkeley is, I will definitely stay in that neighborhood again.

One day Cathy showed me around University of California Berkeley’s campus, which was about as different from Stanford as a campus could be. In fact, UC Berkeley reminded me of the University of Washington in appearance and geography, with more eclectic architecture and organically arranged walkways rather than Stanford’s symmetrical grids.

A very old California buckeye tree on UC Berkeley campus is known for inspiring Japanese American artist Chiura Obata, who taught there. I didn't know anything about Obata's art until I learned about this tree from Cathy. He is also known for publishing a book of sketches he made while incarcerated during WW II. 

The Campanile, UC Berkeley

The most amazing architecture I saw in Berkeley was in the area just outside UC Berkeley’s campus. A block of private homes resembled traditional houses in Normandy. We had so much to see that I didn’t sketch any, but I snapped plenty of photos. Below are just a few.

A Victorian beauty

Normandy or Berkeley?

Entrance to UC Berkeley

I was tickled by the hooked-together letters on many academic buildings.

Good to Be Back at West Seattle’s Farmers Market

 

10/4/26 West Seattle Farmers Market

(I still have two more posts planned about my trip to the Bay Area, but I’m interrupting the series here for this USk post, which also includes comments on InkTober.)

Checking my blog, I think the last time I sketched at the West Seattle Farmers Market was all the way back in 2017 during USk Seattle’s weekend pity party! It was fun to get back there with USk again, especially in Sunday afternoon’s beautiful sunshine.

Buskers are always a favorite subject at farmers markets, and this one had plenty to choose from. Although I only caught a man on ukulele and a teenager on saxophone, I saw and heard at least two more musicians elsewhere in the small-ish market. I managed to catch a few dogs, too!

Technical notes: Although I allowed myself a few “usual” sketches to warm up, the outing was a good opportunity to practice using colored brush markers for InkTober. I haven’t talked about InkTober since it began, but I’ve been participating (of course! You knew I would), and I’ve already learned from this year’s chosen medium.

The sketch made on white paper (at right) is a good example of something I learned (or remembered) quickly: The scale of the page size must be appropriate for the scale of the mark-making tool. That sketchbook was the 3 ½-by-5 ½-inch Stillman & Birn Zeta book that I have been trying to use up since the beginning of the year. Since smooth Zeta paper is ideal for use with markers, and since the book has just a little more than 30 pages left, I was hoping InkTober would finally finish off this book in a landscape format that annoys me. I forgot, though, that its page size is just too darn small for bold brush markers. Without any strong shapes to focus on in the flower vendor’s booth, I got seduced into trying to capture small details – and failed miserably. (I’ll try the book again next month during Pencilvember, when both the surface and the size might work well with colored pencils.)

When I switched to a large (8 by 5 ¾ inches) yellow Uglybook, the scale of the brush pens worked much better. I also looked for larger shapes and stayed away from details. (Yes, the old dog can still learn new tricks!)

I do prefer white paper with colored ink rather than yellow, though. While Uglybooks look amazing with pops of opaque acrylic color, transparent markers tend to get muddied unless the paper’s hue serves as the right “underpainting.”

I have another post planned about InkTober soon, but these are the first few days’ lessons. (Now back to my regular programming.)

SF Bay Area, Part 3: Stanford

 

9/25/26 Stanford University campus Quad, where the gorgeous landscaping complements the equally beautiful architecture.

Years ago, I was dazzled by my first walk around Stanford University campus. With family then (one of my brothers and his daughter both graduated from the Palo Alto institution, so they were familiar with it), I didn’t have time to sketch. Recalling the beautiful campus, I made a day trip to Palo Alto alone so that I could see it properly – with my sketchbook.

Although I didn’t tackle sketching more than glimpses of Stanford’s stately architecture – I strategically chose compositions in which trees and foliage obstructed the most intimidating architectural parts – I certainly enjoyed seeing it. Visiting during student orientation week turned out to be especially informative: Wherever I stopped to sketch, I could eavesdrop on multiple tour leaders.

Noted at top right is the oak titmouse that the Merlin app ID'd when I heard an unfamiliar bird call.

I liked the top of Hoover Tower so much that I sketched it three times!

The non-denominational Stanford Memorial Church was built by Leland Stanford's wife Jane after his death. Couples can get married there. (I learned this by eavesdropping on tour guides.)

A highlight of my Stanford visit was following a tip I had learned from Nina the previous day (and it’s a good thing I took notes, because I never would have found it otherwise). In the late afternoon when the day was getting warm, I visited the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Park, which is tucked away among a small, delightfully shady forest. After seeing and sketching the symmetrical, classical architecture of the academic buildings most of the day, I found the organic stone sculptures of animals and figures to be an intriguing contrast.

At left is a black squirrel, many of which I saw in northern California but have never seen in Seattle. The tree with unusual bark turned out to be a cork oak, which grew plentifully around Stanford.

Papua New Guinea sculptures

Stanford campus is a sketcher’s paradise, and the cool, shady Papua New Guinea Sculpture Park is an oasis.

SF Bay Area, Part 2: San Jose

 

9/24/26 Japantown, San Jose

The first half of my Bay Area trip was in San Jose, where family members live. Although I didn’t sketch much while I was visiting with them, I still had time for a long neighborhood walk on my first full day. Staying in an Airbnb apartment in Japantown, I got to see a quiet, walkable part of town that was new to me.

9/24/26 Japantown

These pages are some of my favorites from the trip because I captured a variety of subject matter in a relatively short time. This montage format of small sketches, which I’ve been using at home for the past few years, suits me well during travel, too. When visiting a new place, I prefer to have many thumbnails than to just one or two larger sketches that take longer to make.

9/24/26 Japantown

On one afternoon, I was delighted that three South Bay sketcher friends, Suhita, Nina and Uma, took time out of their busy schedules to meet me for social sketching.

Suhita, Uma and Nina

A few blocks from my Airbnb was the Japanese American Museum, which includes this authentically reproduced barrack from a WW II incarceration camp. Extremely moved to see the kind of space that my family endured for years, I really wanted to sketch this exhibit, but it was too dark from every angle. A single 10 watt bulb illuminated the space shared by 8 people. Sheets hung on ropes provided "privacy."

Meeting up with sketcher friends is one of the best parts of travel!

You know you're in California when you see magnificent palms on every corner.

SF Bay Area, Part 1: Travel Journal

 

9/23/26 On the light rail to the airport

The San Francisco Bay Area offers me an ideal mix of family, friends, and fantastic sketching opportunities, yet I rarely visit (the last time was in 2018 when we were on our way to Yosemite). I just got back from eight days there, and I plan to visit more regularly in the future. Late September seems to be an ideal time to visit, weather-wise. While Seattle is definitely turning toward fall, the Bay Area was a lovely extension of summer.

9/23/26 Lunch while waiting for my flight at SEA. Later in the day, I wrote private thoughts at the bottom of the pages that I cropped out here. It's an easy solution to sharing some parts of a journal page without sharing everything.

Although I have several posts planned organized by city, I’m going to begin with select pages from my travel journal. A recent review of my fitness-walk sketches disappointed me because I haven’t been writing as much in my sketch journal as I have wanted to. With that in mind, I made an effort to write alongside my sketches during my week away, which wasn’t difficult, since I do tend to write more when I’m traveling. I didn’t bring along my long-form written journal, so in the evenings, I often wrote a couple of pages of impressions and thoughts in the travel journal. My daily-carry Uglybook functioned exactly as my travel journals have in the past.

9/23/26 At lower left is my habit tracker of step count, hours walked, and walking duration, which are things I usually record in my long-form written journal. 

I also consciously used these eight days as a “dry run” for longer trips I hope to make in 2027. I’m fairly set on media choices, but the question is always paper. Through 2019 (the last time I traveled internationally), I was binding travel sketchbooks myself, but I’ve decided not to do that going forward. So, the question now is, How many and which sketchbooks would I want to bring for, say, a 12- or 15-day trip? I’m sure I’ll be muttering and musing over that question for many months to come, so I won’t start here, but I’ll just say that this short-ish trip was helpful in clarifying my needs. Regardless of location or duration, I doubt my sketching approach would change much.

9/25/26 As always, sushi was my favorite food to draw! And I ate a lot of it (all fantastic) while staying in San Jose's Japantown neighborhood.

9/25/26 Caltrain rider. One issue I have with including lengthy writing is that I tend to use whatever pen I made that sketch with, which is often a brush pen. It takes much longer to write legibly with a brush pen than a marker with a fine tip (such as used below). I'd rather not use a brush pen, but usually I forget to switch pens.

9/25/26 Palo Alto

9/27/26 Berkeley playground

9/30/26 Everything I ate on this day except breakfast in my Airbnb

10/1/26 Rider on my light rail ride home. I like how this last page and the first page in my journal (top of post) are both about how I relate to other light rail passengers. They unintentionally form nice book ends for the rest of my trip.